Apparatus for raising sunken vessels.



R. M-.'BROWNE & T. D. SCOTT.

APPARATUS FOR RATSING SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 76,1917- Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

R. M. BROWNE & T. D. SCOTT.

APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 19H- Patented Sept. 18,1917.

2 SHEETS$HEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT onmon.

RICHARD M. BROWNE, AND THOMAS D. SCOTT, 0F NEXV YORK, .N.

APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Yatent. Patented Sept, 191 7,

Application filed March 26, 1917. Serial No. 157,353.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, RICHARD M. BROWNE and THOMAS D. Soo'rr, both subjects of King George V, and resident of the borough. of

Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of sunken ships, and our improvements are di-.

rected particularly to a novel form of pontoon and means whereby a series of these pontoons may be more serviceably attached directly to the hull of a vessel for the purpose of insuring the permanency of their connection while engaged in the operation of floating the vessel. The means for attaching pontoons to sunken vessels now in vogue, which comprises the use of chains passing around the ships bottom, having means of connection with pontoons at the opposite sides of the ship, possess an element of instability; and, in addition to the liability of breakage, are apt to become shifted or displaced under the strains imposed by the dead weight to be raised; so that it frequently occurs that a ship raising undertaking, when progressing with apparent success, after the main work of placing the pontoons and connecting them has all been accomplished, may prove entirely unavailing, involving a loss of time, effort and expense.

Therefore our invention consists in the provision of pontoons, which may be rectangular in cross-section, and having an extensive flat surface capable of lying snugly up against the side of the sunken vessel,-each pontoon having means, .as a surrounding flange, whereby it may be bolted directly to the vessel. A row of these pontoons may be arranged and secured along each side of the vessel to afford equi-poised means of buoyant lift. 7

For simplified convenience of employment, the pontoons may be floated to the scene of the wreck, and for this purpose they are constructed in the form of vessels with a suitable flotation bottom, opposed to a flat deck portion, which latter is intended, under service conditions, to lie against the ships side. Hence, when these pontoons are in the vicinity of the wreck, they are submerged by the influx of water, through suitable valved orifices, in such manner that in sub merging they, will incline towarda position where the flat deck portion assumes a vertical position, to be parallel .or approximately parallel with the side. of the vessel,

thereby enablinga more convenient manipulation of thepontoons in placing them in the desired operative positions relatively to the sunken ship.

Our invention further comprises means whereby the pontoons, with the aid ofropes and pulleys, operated from a wrecking ves-- sel above, may be drawn into. thedesiredpositions relatively to the ships sides for attachment thereto, .and still further our invention includes means for temporarily holding the pontoons in their arranged operative positions relatively to the ship while the process ofsecurely bolting said pontoons to the ships sides is being accomplished.

Other'features and advantages of our said invention will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of one of our improved pontoons, partly in horizontal section. I

Fig. 2 is a side sectional elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a partial, transverse section of a ships hull, with'a pontoon, partly in section, attached thereto. A

Fig. 4:llS an enlargeddetail showing the bolted, flanged connection between pontoon and ship, and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view-showinga method of directing a submerging pontoon into its operative position.

Primarily,- the purpose of our invention is to so securely attach pontoons to a sunken vessel that they will not become dislodged under service strains. Therefore we provide a pontoon, as 1, which has. a-flat deck surface 2, with a flange 3 that may extend around said surface 2, and may be provided with bolt holes 4, the latter to receive bolts, as 5, which serve to bolt the pontoon to the side of the sunken ship, as 6. Obviously, the bolted connection may be made so secure that the pontoon becomes an integral part of the ships hull. While the particularconformation of the pontoon employed may be varied, we have illustrated it herein as a rectangular oblong, having reinforce ribs, that form being convenient and lending itself to certain advantages of structural strength and rigidity. Lengthwise thereof the pontoon may be divided, as by the bulkheads7, 8, forming compartments which lie in the same horizontal plane when the pontoon is floating as upon its bottom9, but which are in superposed relation when the pontoon is upended in its operative position (Fig. The purpose of these compartments isto enable the pontoon, while submerging, to change the angularity of its position. Thus, assuming a pontoon to be floating, as in Fig. 5,:and having arrived over'the ship to be raised, then by opening an orifice l0 inv the lower end portion-of compartment 11, water will enter that compartment and by its =weight cause that portion of the pontoon to submerge in advance of the'remainder of the pontoon, so that the pontoonwill acquire the upended position shown in dotted lines-in Fig. 5.

For further submergence the compartment 12 may then fill with water througha communicating orifice 13 in bulkhead 7, said orifice 13 being located near deck 2, to prevent. passage therethrough until compartment 11 is filled. The head of air in the pontoon will thus become compressed in the upper portion or compartment 14 thereof, and by its location will assist in maintaining the desired upended position of the pontoon.

Guide ropes, as 15, extending f-rom the pontoon, and engaging with pulleys 16 which have been suitably secured to the sunken ship, may be controlled from the wrecking vessel 17, toidraw the pontoon into the desired position against the side of the ships hull, to which-it can be tempora rily secured as by turnbuckle connection 18, thereby bringing and holding the flange 3 into the desired close connection-with thehullof the ship to enable the bolting operation to be performed.

Preferably the bolt holes in the flange can be so distanced apart that they occur in positions to coincide with the ribs in theships hull, in order thatthe boltingmay be efiected through said ribs, to enhance the strength of the union.

The air tubing 19, through =which air: is forced, as from a pumpon the wrecking vessel, to displace the water in the pontoons, when a series of the latter have been secured to the sunken ship, may be connected with the pontoons as at 20. This tubing may also serve for regulating the air pressure in the pontoon while. submerging.

Closure means of desired character may be provided for the orifice 10, but are not illustrated herein as forming no, part of our present invention.

Variations may be resorted to .within the spiritiand scope of our said. invention, I and parts thereof used without others.

We claim: 7

1. A pontoon having a 'flatside arranged to lie snugly against the side of a vessel, and having a co-extensive flange. whereby said pontoonmay be bolted to the vessel.

2. A salvage pontoon having a deck portion attachable to the side of a sunken ship, and means whereby said pontoon submerges angularly, to dispose "its deck portion vertr cally, for such attachment.

3. A salvage pontoon having a deck por tion'attachable to the side of a sunken ship, vertical I lengthwise compartments in said pontoon, andmeans for" admitting water at a lower portionof oneofsaid compartments to upendsaid pontoon anddispose its deck portion vertically, for such attachment.

'11. The improvement in the 'art' of ship construction wherein-a sunken vessel is provided with a series of salvage pontoons, which are rigidly bolted to the sides of said vessel to thereby become an integral part of its: fabric.

5. As a new article of manufacture a salvage pontoon in the form of a submersible, flotation vessel having a flat deck portion, said deck portion having an extending flange,-whereby, when said pontoon is fitted with its deck portion lying against the side of a sunken-ship, it may be bolted to the ship and thus become an integral part of the same.

6. A salvage pontoon having a flat side with an extending flange, said flat side and flange arrangedto fit closely against the side of a sunkenvessehand said flange having a series of boltholes, whereby under the provisionof registering bolt boles formed in the vessels side, connecting bolts may integrally unite said pontoon and vessel. 7

7. A salvage pontoon having a flat side with an extending flange, said flat side and flange arranged to fit against the side of a sunken vessel, and said flange having a se ries of bolt holes, arbitrarily spaced horizontally, whereby, under. the provision of registering bolt holes formed in the vessels side and piercing the ribsof thehull, c0nnecting bolts mayintegrally unite said pontooniand vessel.

Signed at the borough of Manhattan in the city, county and State ofNew York this 23rd day of March A. D. 1917.

RICHARD M. BROWVNE. THOS. D. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

F. W. BARKER, L. .MASKOWITZ.

Copies otithis patent, maybe obtained Iorfive cents each; by addressing. the .Gommissionervof'Iatcnta Washington, 110. 

